‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2’ & ‘Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1’
I’m quite happy to have my blood tested, more than happy in fact, it’s just unfortunate that I’m not so happy about having blood taken out of me to be tested… You can’t have one without the other though so I just have to look the other way while they stick the needle in my arm. That’s what I did yesterday afternoon and I sweetened the deal, for myself, by promising myself a trip to Forbidden Planet afterwards. Just for a couple of comics (which turned into a couple of comics and Book 1 of ‘Bug Wars’, I should have known really…)
I’ll tell you about ‘Bug Wars’ another time, maybe tomorrow or the day after, for now, we’re all about the couple of comics that I picked up. The plan was to grab copies of ‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2’ and ‘Skinbreaker #2’; the title of the post shows a 50% success rate which isn’t too bad I guess, I really should pay more attention to release dates and such. Anyway, on with the comics…
‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2’ – Ward, Jones, Martin (ID Dark)
The ‘Event Horizon’ has embarked on its maiden voyage, to Proxima Centauri, and immediately, things start to go wrong. Things can always get worse though and for the crew, they do…
We’re still in the early stages of this mini-series so there’s a lot of build up happening here rather than things actually, you know, happening… Having said that though, I’ve had a while to think about it and the introduction of Paimon promises good things for whatever comes next. The movie had its own villain so it stands to reason that the prequel needs a villain too, and a different one.
My eyes are struggling at the moment and I really need to sort out some new glasses before #3 comes out; reading words in white (against red/black backgrounds) is a real issue for me, these days, and #2 has moments of this. That’s on me but if you have similar problems, takes my experience as a gentle warning ;o) Christian Ward keeps the plot on a tight leash and Tristan Jones’ art is becoming the star of the piece with a real keen eye for the detail of cosmic horror… I’ll definitely be back for #3.
‘Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1’ – Zub, Gil, Canola (Titan Comics/Heroic Signatures)
Conan of Cimmeria has encountered Stygian sorcery and snake-sent creatures many times in his grand adventures, but he has never faced the true unspeakable power of Set until now.
The serpent god’s influence coils around the Hyborian Age and every other age linked to it. Three stunning supernatural stories will weave together to answer a chilling question of past and present. What is Set’s grand plan for humanity and, now it has begun, can it be stopped?
It’s not often that I get to pick up a comic and start right at the beginning… When I do, it’s always a little special but, as with ‘Event Horizon’ above, it also means that we’re looking at an issue of build-up rather than the plot being in full swing. That’s not a deal breaker here because it’s not only Conan that we’re talking about, we also have Kull as well :o) That means there’s plenty of action to keep things ticking over. I liked the way that certain of Howard’s original tales are incorporated into this cross-over event. I spotted ‘God in the Bowl’ right away and a little look on my shelves confirmed that Kull story ‘The Shadow Kingdom’ also features. The only one I’m not sure of here is the tale featuring Professor John Kirowan. It would be odd not to have a ‘full set’ of REH stories here but I’ve never read an original Kirowan tale (unfortunately) so can’t say one way or the other. It works though and that’s the main thing.
A good mix of tales then that are laying the groundwork for what looks like an intriguing overarching narrative. Zub handles both sets of narrative strands with his usual aplomb and Gil’s artwork complements the plot perfectly, I’m looking forward to following the rest of this tale (pun intended, a little bit).
I’ll tell you about ‘Bug Wars’ another time, maybe tomorrow or the day after, for now, we’re all about the couple of comics that I picked up. The plan was to grab copies of ‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2’ and ‘Skinbreaker #2’; the title of the post shows a 50% success rate which isn’t too bad I guess, I really should pay more attention to release dates and such. Anyway, on with the comics…
‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2’ – Ward, Jones, Martin (ID Dark)
The ‘Event Horizon’ has embarked on its maiden voyage, to Proxima Centauri, and immediately, things start to go wrong. Things can always get worse though and for the crew, they do…
We’re still in the early stages of this mini-series so there’s a lot of build up happening here rather than things actually, you know, happening… Having said that though, I’ve had a while to think about it and the introduction of Paimon promises good things for whatever comes next. The movie had its own villain so it stands to reason that the prequel needs a villain too, and a different one.
My eyes are struggling at the moment and I really need to sort out some new glasses before #3 comes out; reading words in white (against red/black backgrounds) is a real issue for me, these days, and #2 has moments of this. That’s on me but if you have similar problems, takes my experience as a gentle warning ;o) Christian Ward keeps the plot on a tight leash and Tristan Jones’ art is becoming the star of the piece with a real keen eye for the detail of cosmic horror… I’ll definitely be back for #3.
‘Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1’ – Zub, Gil, Canola (Titan Comics/Heroic Signatures)
Conan of Cimmeria has encountered Stygian sorcery and snake-sent creatures many times in his grand adventures, but he has never faced the true unspeakable power of Set until now.
The serpent god’s influence coils around the Hyborian Age and every other age linked to it. Three stunning supernatural stories will weave together to answer a chilling question of past and present. What is Set’s grand plan for humanity and, now it has begun, can it be stopped?
It’s not often that I get to pick up a comic and start right at the beginning… When I do, it’s always a little special but, as with ‘Event Horizon’ above, it also means that we’re looking at an issue of build-up rather than the plot being in full swing. That’s not a deal breaker here because it’s not only Conan that we’re talking about, we also have Kull as well :o) That means there’s plenty of action to keep things ticking over. I liked the way that certain of Howard’s original tales are incorporated into this cross-over event. I spotted ‘God in the Bowl’ right away and a little look on my shelves confirmed that Kull story ‘The Shadow Kingdom’ also features. The only one I’m not sure of here is the tale featuring Professor John Kirowan. It would be odd not to have a ‘full set’ of REH stories here but I’ve never read an original Kirowan tale (unfortunately) so can’t say one way or the other. It works though and that’s the main thing.
A good mix of tales then that are laying the groundwork for what looks like an intriguing overarching narrative. Zub handles both sets of narrative strands with his usual aplomb and Gil’s artwork complements the plot perfectly, I’m looking forward to following the rest of this tale (pun intended, a little bit).
I pretty much only read comics digitally, on my computer now. Because the print editions don't do my eyes any favors. So I sympathize with your experience on Event Horizon!
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